Hi there, our precious Shitlings!
Yesterday was Shooting the Shit day on the podcast. In the episode, Carly and CeCe break down why publishing is as much about human connection and timing as it is about great writing! As usual, you don’t want to miss the spilling of all the tea. 🫖
We’ve already had author/agent Jenna Sattherthwaite on the podcast in a very popular episode in which she discussed experiencing success as a writer after 800 rejections! 🤯 You can listen to that here if you missed it!
We now have her back in our Meet Your Dream Agent segment. Jenna not only answers a lot of our burning questions, she also generously shares a near-perfect query letter! You’ll also want to hear what she has to say about her request rate as well as how often she extends revise and resubmit requests! 👀
Then, Moorea Corrigan author of Thistlemarch pens a wonderful essay titled Conjuring Magic Through a Historical Lens:
“My notebooks are full of things that stand out from my research, but also with mock scenes. In them, I have the characters engage with the material I’ve collected. These experiments rarely make the jump from my notebook to my manuscript, but by playing with the research I give it narrative, rather than just being a citation from an article or book.”
Finally, today’s video by Bonnie Friedman author of Don’t Stop tackles the art of revision, including something we all struggle with: cutting redundant scenes!
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! ❤️
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
This Week on ‘Shooting the Shit’
What do literary agents actually do all day—and what does that mean for you as a writer? This episode pulls back the curtain on the reality: constant code-switching, shifting priorities, and a job driven by urgency, relationships, and gut instinct. In this week’s episode of Shooting the Shit, Carly and CeCe break down why publishing is as much about human connection and timing as it is about great writing—and why “dream agents” only matter if they’re obsessed with your book. They also tackle a big question: what happens if you’ve had an agent before? Spoiler: it’s not a dealbreaker—but how you frame it matters.
Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!
